


Musings on the Differences Between the MCU and Reality AKA Random Bits of Analytical World-Building

by Katie_P



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Gen, Meta, world-building
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-28
Updated: 2018-10-28
Packaged: 2019-08-08 19:09:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,887
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16435172
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katie_P/pseuds/Katie_P
Summary: I tried starting a Tumblr to post these, but it fizzled real fast.  So I'm posting them here now, instead.





	1. Hello World

I'm an engineer. So as much as I enjoy the MCU, I find its forays beyond the limits of my suspension of disbelief terribly irksome. It is my firm belief that a world of superheroes can exist within a universe governed by natural laws and that this world can be full of compelling, character-driven stories. Therefore, I am attempting to put the Sci back into Sci-Fi. There will still be elements of fiction to the science, but I'm really, really trying to keep it plausible. This started out as a few minor tweaks to MCU canon, but quickly got away from me. Seriously. One original character started out as pre-Hulk Bruce Banner's jogging buddy and has since evolved into someone else entirely. I'm putting my thoughts on Earth Zero out here to get them out of my head, where they are taking up far too much space. 

The central theme of Earth Zero is navigating the line between a person and a weapon that becomes blurred by the creation of so-called superheroes. The conflict between personification and objectification will be a recurring motif throughout multiple story arcs. This will likely include parallels between weapon (asset) objectification and sexual objectification. 

Earth Zero is mostly based on the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but draws from the Marvel comics a bit, along with some changes of my own that are necessary to make the planned overall story work. Some of these changes are small, and others are massive; however, no change is arbitrary. If I am deviating from canon, it is for a reason, even if that reason is not immediately obvious. There is a plan! It is evolving, but the main plot points have been nailed down. I have also drawn from a number of other fictional sources including various TV shows and movies, mostly for supporting narrative functions. 

Earth Zero is also firmly rooted in our own universe, so this means no magic, no aliens, no [omni-disciplinary scientists](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OmnidisciplinaryScientist) beyond reasonable complimentary skills, and plenty of real or mostly real science and history. It is an alternate history, so obviously some events happened differently than they did in our world, but most of Earth Zero's history matches real life history.

There are already copious amounts of fantastic meta and analysis of every aspect of the MCU online. I have read some but obviously not all of it. My own musings on Earth Zero would not be possible without this existing meta and analysis. I will do my best to cite all of the sources from which I've drawn material, but it is possible that I will miss a source or that I will duplicate a line of thought unintentionally. Please let me know when something I'm saying sounds familiar and link back to the source, and I will update the post as appropriate. Be warned: among my sources is tvtropes.com. Follow links at your own peril.

Earth Zero is definitely a science fiction universe, though my inner engineer wants to keep it as close to science fact as possible while staying true to the source material and providing the foundation for good stories. There is so much very real and very awesome science that has happened over the last century, some of which at first glance sounds like science fiction, that the really fictional science fiction almost seems superfluous if not outright boring and unimaginative. 

I've already been surprised a few times by some of the real science and technology I've learned about in the course of exploring Earth Zero. I thought I knew a thing or two about the history of computer science and artificial intelligence, so I was floored to learn that a less sophisticated version of the AI-Zola shown in Captain America: The Winter Soldier would have been possible using the [real computer science and computer hardware available in 1972](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_artificial_intelligence). Think about that. A rudimentary AI-Zola could have actually been created in the early 1970's. There is a great story there. Who was involved? Why was the computer hardware kept in a bunker? Who knew about it? Was the system connected to the Internet? Was it upgraded as the technology improved? What would happen if, say, 13-year-old Tony Stark was messing around on his own computer a decade or so later and encountered AI-Zola? 

This is what the Earth Zero universe is all about: creating a world very much like our own, while using the already familiar characters of the Marvel universe that we have all grown to know and love to tell interesting, complex, compelling stories.

As I have said before and will likely say again, I'm not really sure where I'm going with this. I just need to get it out of my head.


	2. Thoughts About Stark Industries

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What it says on the tin.

I am an engineer, not a business person. However, I have had enough exposure to business to make a few observations about how Stark Industries is presented in the MCU, particularly in Captain America: The First Avenger (CA:TFA). Note that I am relying on the [Marvel Cinematic Universe Wiki](http://marvelcinematicuniverse.wikia.com/wiki/Marvel_Cinematic_Universe_Wiki) for my MCU canon.

MCU canon says [Howard Stark's](http://marvelcinematicuniverse.wikia.com/wiki/Howard_Stark) date of birth is August 15, 1917. That makes him less than one year older than [Steve Rogers](http://marvelcinematicuniverse.wikia.com/wiki/Captain_America), who was born on July 4, 1918 and five months _younger_ than [Bucky Barnes](http://marvelcinematicuniverse.wikia.com/wiki/Bucky_Barnes), who was born on March 10, 1917. This means that in 1943 when we first see Howard Stark presenting the flying car at the Modern Marvels of Tomorrow Exhibition in CA:TFA he is 26 years old. Furthermore, MCU canon says that Howard Stark launched Stark Industries in 1939. He would have been 22 at the time. He most likely had a college degree in engineering by then. If we're generous and say he skipped a few grades along the way he may have graduated when he was 20. Alternatively, Howard may have been trained via an apprenticeship, though by the 1930's formal university education would have been the [more common option](https://www.nap.edu/read/586/chapter/4#23%20http://www.indiana.edu/~ciec/Proceedings_2015/ETD/ETD315_IssapourSheppard.pdf). 

Howard Stark may be an engineering genius, but he still needed start-up capital to get any of his designs off the drawing board. There's only so far a young, creative, and determined entrepreneur can bootstrap before the practical limits of self-funding halt further development and growth. Howard could not build a flying car in his garage in the 1930's. The amount of money needed to fund the kinds of projects Howard Stark is shown to be working on would be substantial. He would need (and by extension need to pay for) one or more large buildings; large, sophisticated, precision tools; materials both rare and commonplace; highly skilled tradesmen; and probably at least one lawyer. In the Agents of SHIELD TV show, Howard comments on his humble origins, “I grew up on the lower east side. My father sold fruit. My mother sewed shirtwaists for a factory. Let me tell you, you don't get to climb the American ladder without picking up some bad habits on the way.” Clearly, his family does not have the funds to bankroll his projects. Howard would need wealthy investors backing him. Depending on his connections, he may have been able to pull together a modest amount of money, but no one would risk the kind of money needed to jump-start a pre-WWII Stark Industries business empire on a poor, young, largely unproven kid. 

There is another career path Howard could have taken that would lead to him founding Stark Industries after World War II. The U.S. government was recruiting engineers and scientists to work on a number of top-secret projects starting years before the U.S. officially entered World War II. President Roosevelt created the National Defense Research Committee (NDRC) in September 1940, which later became the Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD), the [real-world equivalent](http://www.ww2sci-tech.org/timeline/timeline.html) of the Strategic Scientific Reserve (SSR). Howard Stark would have been a perfect candidate. He could have easily come up through the ranks as a civilian engineer in the SSR before and during the war, and then started Stark Industries once the war was over and he'd already established a reputation as a talented weapons designer and had set up a network of contacts within the military. In fact, going to Europe and observing from up close may have been instrumental in inspiring him to go into weapons design and manufacturing. 

There is some evidence to support this interpretation in CA:TFA, despite the flying car and other mentions of Stark Industries. The Howard Stark we meet in CA:TFA does not come across as the CEO of a major defense industry player. He comes across as an enthusiastic, eager, and reckless young man caught up in whatever project currently has his attention. He is not Howard Stark the businessman, he is Howard Stark the engineer. (And possibly, according to Colonel Phillips, at least, Howard Stark the reckless idiot oh dear god not another one I thought Rogers was bad but he's ten times worse with Barnes enabling him and now Stark too Agent Carter stop laughing this is serious I have an ulcer no I have three ulcers and their names are Rogers, Barnes, and Stark this isn't funny I'm going to keel over and then where will the SSR be without someone in charge with a lick of sense to keep all of these reckless idiots in line Carter Carter not you too what did I do to deserve this...) 

This brings up a related question: is Howard Stark a businessman at all? Most engineers are not naturally good business people. Some are, but most are not. Some can learn; others cannot. I can attest from personal experience that not every engineer is cut out to be a manager, let alone the CEO of a whole company, and technical skill tends to be inversely correlated with managerial skill. I won't name names, but I assure you, this is usually true, at least in my experience. 

Regardless of Howard Stark's business acumen, there are limited hours in the day. If Howard was doing the bulk of the design work, at least in the early years of the company before he had the funding to hire a bunch of talented engineers or before someone made him delegate tasks to the engineering staff he did have, he would have had very little time to attend to the numerous obligations, responsibilities, and activities it takes to actually keep a company running. In the start-up phase, sure he could have done it, but as the company grew, so would the managerial responsibilities, and he simply would not have had time for them. Howard would need a business manager. This may be where Obadiah Stane entered the picture. (I have more thoughts on Obadiah Stane that will be discussed in another post.)

Given the evidence outlined above, it is very unlikely Stark Industries could have existed before or during World War II, at least as it shown in CA:TFA. This does not affect the potential for a post-war Stark Industries to grow into the company Tony Stark is running by the time we catch up to him in the mid-2000's. Earth Zero is a (mostly) more realistic version of the MCU. I don't intend to detract from the achievements of the characters; however, there are limits to my suspension of disbelief, and this is one of them.


End file.
